The Collected Library, Including Americana and Early Photography

Washington, D.C. March 28, 1808. One sheet, 10 x 8 in. (254 x 203 mm). Autograph letter signed by Vice President George Clinton to his son-in-law Edmond Charles Genet. In part: "...Before this you will have heard that our Negotiations with Mr. Rose the British Envoy Closed without effecting any Thing, and as he has left us & yet it would not appear as if a demonstration apprehended any interruption of our Grace. What the event will be is uncertain. We are full prepared for War..." Scattered ink stains and bleed; corners trimmed; mounted to mat below a hand-colored engraving of Clinton, in frame 20 1/2 x 10 in.

Vice President George Clinton (1739-1812) writes to his son in law, Edmond Charles Genet (1763-1834) regarding failed negotiations between the United States and Great Britain during the ongoing Chesapeake-Leopard Affair.

On June 22 1807, the British 50-gun HMS Leopard pursued, attacked, and boarded the American frigate Chesapeake off the shores of Norfolk, Virginia, in search of British Navy deserters. The incident was a violent escalation of Britain's years-long campaign of accosting American merchant ships and impressing its citizens into the British Navy. The attack resulted in three dead American sailors, 18 wounded, four captured, and the young nation humiliated. The incident inflamed tensions between the United States and Great Britain, and infuriated the American public who united in a call for a forceful response.

British diplomat Sir George Henry Rose (1771-1855), was sent to America specifically to help mediate the conflict, meeting with President Thomas Jefferson on March 21, 1808. The meeting did not go well, as historian Henry Adams describes, "...Rose came, not to conciliate, but to terrify. His apology was a menace. So little was the President prepared for such severity...this mission of peace and friendship was intended only to repeat the assertion of [British] supremacy which had led to the original offence..." (History of the United States of America, Vol. 4, p. 182)